Favorites: Dinner Kits from Good Eggs

I'm so excited to partner with Good Eggs to bring you a preview of their new Weeknight Dinner Kit launching on April 16th. I've tried other meal kits before and there were always two things I didn't like about them--too much wasteful packaging and it took at least an hour to prep and cook. When I received the Good Eggs Weeknight Dinner Kit, I was so happy to see that the box was small, the ingredients were minimally packaged, and any packaging material that was required was compostable.

The kit came with 3 dinners and each one literally took only 10-15 minutes of prep time. Each recipe is clearly marked A, B and C with corresponding labels on the ingredients. It was easy to distinguish and separate for storing in the fridge.

I decided to make the Mint Pesto Pasta with Spring Peas and Green Garlic first. Initially I thought it wasn't enough food but turns out I had some pesto leftover so I could make a lunch the next day. Score! Lucas and Theo LOVED it! They never had mint and arugula pesto before and they kept asking for more. Score again! The meal came with a giant salad and a yummy red vinaigrette.

Love this on the box!

    I also got a Buh-Bye Box to encourage being fully present at the dinner table.

    Thanks Good Eggs for the amazing Finishing Salt from Omnivore.

    And thank you again for the Fresh 2016 Harvest Olio Nuovo from Other Brother. It was perfect for drizzling at the end of the

    I highly recommend this dinner kit for busy families. It's absurdly fresh, easy, and delicious.

    Here are more details of the Good Eggs Weeknight Dinner Kit:

    • Customers who sign up for the dinner kit receive 3 meals, which can be ordered and delivered at the same time as their weekly groceries (subscription not required).
    • Kit options change weekly
    • Cost is $69.99
    • Promotional pricing in April and May: $49.99 (use code DINNERKIT20 for $20 off your first kit)
    • 1 meal = 3 servings
    • Each weekly menu comes with a Good Eggs seasonal green salad mix and dressing that can be paired with any meal. (pairings suggested on recipes)
    • This spring, there will be 2 omnivore meals and 1 vegetarian
    • Coming later this year: vegetarian, paleo and other options

    + Ceramic bowls by Colleen Hennessy
    + Napkins by Sweetgum Textles
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    Favorites: School Lunches With Fluf Lunch Bags

    For many parents, including myself, school lunches can be a little daunting--what to pack each day, deciding between a warm lunch or cold, not wanting to spend too much money if it's going to come back uneaten, etc. Today, I've partnered with modern kids online shop Ziraffe who sent over some of the cutest lunch and snack packs from Fluf. They are washable, have a water-resistant BPA-free lining, durable, super cute, and made of organic cotton. I've paired them with our favorite lunch box to show you some lunch ideas that work for both Lucas and Theo.

    Theo's nut-free preschool lunch in the Cactus Zipper Lunch Bag (left):

    • pomegranate seeds
    • cucumber slices
    • apple slices
    • brown rice cake
    • mandarin orange slices
    • kiwi
    • yogurt covered pretzel (dessert)
      note: I usually include a protein such as string cheese or a sun butter sandwich but his class was having rice and beans that day so I omitted it.

    Lucas' first grade lunch in the Grey Zipper Lunch Bag (right):

    • blackberries
    • kiwi
    • olives
    • string cheese
    • peanut butter and jelly sandwich
    • sliced apples
    • organic dark chocolate coconut chips (WF bulk bin!)

    A few other school lunch tips:

    • Either make the lunch with your kid or ask them what they'd like in their lunch
    • Give them a choice (i.e. do you want pears or apples? a sandwich or a quesadilla?)
    • Pack the night before--for apple slices, cut them in the morning and have one of the kids rub lemon on them to prevent from turning brown
    • For kids who hate bread crust, I do one of two things: I either leave it on because sometimes my kids are so hungry they eat the whole thing, or I cut off the crust and put it in the actual sandwich (they can't see it or taste it, but they're eating it!)

    I bought most of these from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. The cost for each lunch comes out to under $4 and all of it minus the olives and pretzel is organic.

    I supplemented their lunch with some snacks. These Fluf snack packs are so convenient for school or just everyday use. I love the velcro closure for little hands and how roomy they are. I put cut-up carrots and gluten-free pretzels in the Fluf Mama Love Snack Pack for Theo. Lucas has raw almonds and cut-up carrots in his Hi Snack Pack.

    The lunch bags hold a lot (probably even artwork and jacket!).

    I love that there's a sturdy interior pocket for a water bottle or an ice pack.

    + This post is in partnership with Ziraffe. All words and opinions are my own.

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    Recipe: Gluten Free Buckwheat Brownies

    I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. Oops! I thought I would have a lot more time after quitting my day job to post more regularly but I have been keeping busy with kid stuff and freelance work...oh, and getting a bit politically active.  Honestly, what did I do when I had my other job?

    Anyway, I'm back (mostly) with this awesome recipe for Gluten Free Buckwheat Brownies from the Alternative Baker book by Alanna Taylor-Tobin. The original recipe calls for Chestnut Flour but says a good alternative (to the alternative flour) is buckwheat flour which is what I had on hand. These brownies were dark and fudgey with that familiar crinkly top. So good! I ended up slicing them up into narrow rectangles to feed Lucas' soccer team (one of the kids on the team is gf) so I could have some too. ;) Enjoy!

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    Recipe: Easy Butternut Squash Soup + Clover Giveaway

    Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year and for the past seven years (since I was pregnant with Lucas) I have hosted it at my house. Today, I've partnered with local family farm Clover to bring you this Easy Butternut Squash Soup recipe that has been on my holiday menu every year. When it comes to dairy, I always buy organic--local is even better, and Clover is in the north coast (where Nick is from!).

    Clover is also giving away $100 in Clover Cash. Details below after the recipe.

    Clover giveaway details:

    • Follow me on Instagram and share your favorite holiday meals with hashtag #CloverCooks for a chance to win $100 in coupons for Clover dairy products
    • This giveaway is only open to people who live in California.
    • Winner will be chosen at random on Monday, November 14th. Good luck!

    This giveaway is now closed. The winner is @jessamynit.

    + Full recipe for Easy Butternut Squash Soup
    + Make these DIY Dessert Toppers for Thanksgiving!
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    Instagram Giveaway!

    I'm so excited to announce an Instagram GIVEAWAY today for three of my current favorites: (1) a signed copy of the new book Alternative Baker by blogger/photographer/pastry chef/author Alanna Taylor-Tobin of The Bojon Gourmet (check out the amazing pie I made!), (2) a beautiful and sustainably designed culinary tote from Aplat (I use these all the time for transporting food for potlucks and picnics), and (3) a brown midi bonded leather playmat from Gathre (so awesome for picnics at the park or movie nights in our backyard).

    Head over to my Instagram feed to find the original post and simply follow me, comment and tag 2 friends. That's it! I'll announce the winner chosen by random number generator on Monday, October 17th.

    This giveaway is now CLOSED. Congrats to @makingitwithmeleyna!

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    Easy Summer Meze Platter for Kids

    When Lucas and Theo get off school or summer camp they are usually ravenous. I always make sure to bring them a simple snack like grapes, pretzels or cut up apples when I pick them up. I was at Target the other day and found these new Chobani Meze Dips made with Greek yogurt. It inspired me to make a kid-friendly meze platter--carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, pretzels, crackers, sliced cucumbers and simple chicken tenders. My kids usually don't love hummus so I thought they might like these savory yogurt dips instead and they devoured them. It was great because adding the chicken tenders basically made this an easy dinner they could eat with their hands.

    + Please note this is not a sponsored post.

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    Baking with an 8-year old

    Have you ever met a kid (not your own) who reminds you of yourself when you were their age? For me, that's my friend Lisa's daughter Zoya because she loves to bake. Remember when I baked with her when she was only 6 years old? Now Zoya is 8 and she still loves to bake as much as she did two years ago. When I was little, I loved to bake all kinds of things, but it was usually from a Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines (whichever was on sale) box where all I did was add eggs and oil to the mix.

    A few weeks ago I invited Zoya to come over to bake. She chose to bake a carrot cake and used this recipe from a DIY post I did for Oh Happy Day. It was fun and messy and perfectly imperfect!

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    Favorites: Pain Bakery

    A few weeks ago, I almost died from having the best bread of my life. It was a Country Loaf given to me by Theo's amazing preschool teacher Ayla's boyfriend, Chase, who bakes these lovely loaves for Pain Bakery. This loaf was 50 ounces of pure bliss--with a perfectly toasty crust and a super tender open crumb.

    After eating one slice on its own, I decided to make avocado toasts the way they do at Bartavelle, one of my favorite spots in Berkeley--lightly toasted, drizzled with the best olive oil (I used ILA), smeared with organic avocado, a squeeze of lemon, a sprinkle of Maldon sea salt, and a little red pepper (if I had Marash pepper flakes I would have used that instead). SO. GOOD.

    Man, if bread could be sexy, this would be Beyonce.

    So this olive oil from ILA is the best one I've had with beautiful packaging to boot.

    Look at that crumb! And I totally devoured that butt even though I normally don't even like bread crust :)

    + Find Pain Bakery bread here for now.
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    DIY + Recipe: Bunny Cupcake Holders for Oh Happy Day

    I can't believe Spring is almost here. Today I'm sharing these cute Bunny Cupcake Holders for Oh Happy Day along with my favorite Carrot Cupcake recipe. Enjoy!

    + Check out the entire Bunny Cupcake Holder DIY + Recipe feature on Oh Happy Day
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    Recipe: Black Bean Polenta

    When nick and I met over 12 years ago, he was a vegetarian and I was a big time carnivore (growing up in a Chinese household meant some kind of meat protein with every meal). We came to a compromise on our dietary preferences very early on in our relationship (true love!) which consisted of eating mostly vegetarian but fish, chicken and turkey were okay. We weren't strict and my willpower was next to none--I mean, how could I resist the occasional slice of pepperoni pizza?

    Fast forward to 2016, and many documentaries later, Nick has gone back to his vegetarian ways but includes fish (so, a pescatarian). I truly admire his tenacity but I must admit, as the cook/baker in the house, this was initially a bit of a challenge for me. Of course, Nick told me not to do anything differently and he'll just eat his own thing. But that would not be enjoyable for me-- the idea of the kids and I gorging on my Lemon Olive Chicken while he ate a bagel and cream cheese? So I've challenged myself to cook more vegetarian and fish meals--on the nights Nick isn't home for dinner, I'll cook my chicken dishes if I feel like it.

    One of the biggest challenges as the cook in the house is making something that satisfies everyone. This Black Bean Polenta does the trick--we all love it, it's inexpensive, makes amazing leftovers, great for potlucks, plus it's vegetarian and gluten free. I love the version the Juice Bar Collective makes and found a version from Farmgirl Gourmet that I slightly modified.

    + Full Recipe for Black Bean Polenta
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    Source: www.goodonpaperdesign.com/blog/2016/3/1/re...